Recently, a communication network using optical fibers has been developed as high-speed high-capacity communication means. Various optical connectors are used for optical fiber connections when installing optical fibers or at the manufacturing sites of optical-fiber communication devices. Since optical connectors generally employ a method of bringing the end faces of optical fibers into direct contact with each other, contaminants on the fiber end surface cause deterioration of connection characteristics. Therefore, the fiber end surface must be cleaned before connecting the optical connectors.
Conventionally, an optical-connector cleaning device has been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-242347, which includes an openable and closable window in an outer casing thereof and gradually feeds the window cleaning tape from a reel for cleaning the fiber end surface of the optical connectors. That cleaning device includes a guide plate for guiding the fiber end surface of the optical connectors to a position corresponding to the window in the outer casing, and a rubber pad serving as a base for the cleaning tape.
However, in the aforesaid cleaning device, when the cleaning tape has been used up, it is necessary to detach the empty reel and a reel which has taken up the used cleaning tape and, thereafter, to attach a new reel around which unused cleaning tape is wound and a reel for taking up the used cleaning tape; therefore, replacement of the cleaning tape is extremely troublesome. Also, since the reel around which the cleaning tape is wound is directly handled, there is a drawback in that contaminants may easily stick to the cleaning tape.
Furthermore, in the aforesaid cleaning device, since the guide plate and the rubber pad are integrally fixed to the outer casing, it is difficult to replace them, posing a problem in that only optical connectors having a specific shape can be cleaned. In particular, recently, the shape of optical connectors has become more complicated. For example, an optical connector having guide pins beside the fiber end and so on has been put into practical use in order to achieve more reliable and tighter joining so that it is substantially impossible for the aforesaid cleaning device to clean optical connectors having a complicated shape.